During arthroscopic surgery, a small incision is made in the skin covering the arthroscopic site or joint, and a cannula is inserted in the incision to provide a pathway for surgical devices to be placed in the joint and manipulated through arthroscopic visualization. Surgical devices inserted through cannulas must be long and thin, which creates limitations on devices for cutting tissue, as the diameter of the cannula ordinarily limits the width of the cutting implement.
Flip cutters have been used for retrograde drilling of sockets and tunnels for ACL reconstruction. The flip cutters have a blade, preferably a flip blade, that is configured to articulate between at least a first “straight” position, for example, substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the flip retrograde cutter, and at least a second “flip” position, for example, a non-parallel position relative to the longitudinal axis of the flip retrograde cutter. Using such a flip retrograde cutter, a recipient site socket can be created from the inside out using a retrograde technique with minimal incisions of distal cortices and reduced intraarticular bone fragmentation of tunnel rims. The blades of the flip cutters have been moved manually between the first and second positions to enable retrograde drilling of sockets and tunnels. A more efficient system for retaining in position and moving the blade of a flip cutter is needed.